The Legacy of Ashes: The Shattered Kingdom In a kingdom where loyalty is as fragile as truth, betrayal runs blood-deep. When Dunwood Keep falls to treachery, young Alden and his sister Lira barely escape with their lives. Their uncle, Benedict—once sworn to protect them—claims their home and title for his own, backed by the Crown and cloaked in lies. Pursued by mercenaries, manipulated by false allies, and driven into the shadows of a fractured realm, the siblings must navigate a dangerous web of power, secrets, and survival. As Alden shoulders the weight of a legacy left in ruins, Lira uncovers hidden plots that stretch far beyond their family’s fall—secrets whispered in locked rooms, passed in sealed letters, and buried beneath gilded smiles. Every ally hides a knife. Every kindness has a cost. With war looming and the lines between friend and foe blurring, the siblings must decide how much of themselves they are willing to lose to reclaim what was stolen. Because the kingdom is not just broken—it is rotting from within. And the deeper they go, the more they realize: the game is rigged, the rules are lies, and survival might demand becoming something neither of them ever wanted to be.